The Fate of the Entwives

[Galin]

Originally Posted by GaladrieloftheOlden

I really think that Tolkien meant for the "walking willow tree" that Sam's cousin saw in chapter 1 was one of the Entwives, especially as Treebeard hinted that they would have liked the lands around the Shire.

I think the being in the tale was compared to an Elm (as far as height, at first), but Tolkien had not yet invented the tale of the Entwives -- at least when this earlier part of the book was first written anyway (at this point possibly mannish 'giants' were part of The Lord of the Rings however, and these 'remained' in some sense in my opinion).

Also full grown Elm trees are notably taller than Ents to my mind. Of course, Treebeard himself was very tall in draft writing, but significantly reduced in size by the time the chapter Treebeard came to be written.